Feeding and stacking method and machine



July 14, 1925.

C. B. MAXSON FEEDING AND STACKING METHOD AND MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet l fi qew 671 arlwfljffawpn Filed May 13 1921 July 14, 1925. 1,545,915

C. B. MAXSON FEEDING AND STACKING METHOD AND MACHINE Filed May 13, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 &\\\\\\\\\\ \l\\\\\ Patented July 14, 1925.

UNITED STATES CHARLES B. MAXSON, 0F WESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND.

FEEDING AND STACKING METHOD AND MACHINE.

Application filed May 13, 1921. Serial No. 469,206.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GHARLEs BENJAMIN MAXSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Westerly, in the county of Washington and State of Rhode Island, have invented a. new and useful Improvement in Feeding and Stacking Methods and Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to feeding and stacking methods and machines, and more particularly to methods of and machines for feeding and stacking sheet material, like paper.

According to present practice, a large number of thicknesses or sheets of paper are simultaneously severed into bundles of sheets, the bundles then being fed forward as units into a magazine, where they become stacked. For some purposes, and for some kinds of paper, it is desirable to feed and stack the sheets singly. This result can, of course, be attained with present-day machines, a single sheet, and not a bundle of sheets, constituting the unit. To operate the machines at the low speed for which they are adapted, however, is very time consuming, and when it is attempted to increase the speed, the sheets commence to buckle up and flyabout as they are delivered into the magazine, interfering with proper stacking. The consequence is that it is impracticable to stack sheets singly or in small bundles with present-day methods.

According to the method disclosed in a copending application, Serial No. 370,829, filed Aprll 2, 1920, the sheets are fed singly or in small unit bundles successively past a high-speed point at a very high speed,-a speed so high that, if they were fed at said speed into the magazine, they would buckle and fly about therein in such manner as to make stacking impossible. The sheets are, however, then successively fed past a lowspeed point at a very much lower speed, the unit sheets or bundles of sheets becoming thus overlapped, and they are fed in overlapped relation at the same low speed into the magazine, where they become easily stacked, If the sheets are very long compared to the dimensions of the machine, their tails, after their heads have been slowed down by the slow-speed mechanism, must be moved out of the way of the heads of the next succeeding sheets that are advancing at high speed. This result is eflected in the above-described application by bodily intermittently separating the high-speed mechanism from the low-speed mechanism to permit the tails to fall into the gap thus made.

The present invention has for its object to provide an improved method and improved apparatus for feeding and stacking sheet material at high speed.

To this end, a feature of the invention resides in guiding the head of each sheet from the high-speed mechanism to the lowspeed mechanism, but removing the guiding means from between the two mechanisms to permit the tail of the sheet to fall into the gap thus formed between them.

\Vith this end in view, the invention consists of the method and machine hereinafter described, illustrated in .the accompanying drawings, and defined in the appended claims.

The invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a machine constructed in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a View of a por- I Fig. 3 is a view of a modification; and Fig.

4 shows the sheets in overlapping relation as they are received by the low-speed tapes.

Referring to Fig. 1, any suitable feed mechanism 1 may be employed to advance a layer 2 of material, like paper, to a rotating cutter 4 which cooperates with a cutter block 6 to sever the paper into sheets 8 of predetermined length. The cutter and the cutter block may be dispensed with if the sheets which it is desired to treat have been previously cut. The forward ends or heads of the sheets 8 are successively gripped between relatively high-speed tapes 10 and 12. One only of each of the tapes 10 and 12 is shown, others being directly behind. It will be understood that the term tape is employed in the specification and the claims in a generic sense, and includes within its scope other feeding mechanisms, like belts, cylinders, aprons and the like. The tapes 10 and 12 are driven at a little higher speed than the speed of delivery thereto of the sheets, permitting the successively delivered sheets to become spaced apart. The speed of the high-speed tapes is so great that if the'sheets were permitted to enter a magazine 18 directly, they would buckle and curl and fly about therein in a manner that would'make stacking impossible. The tapes 10 and 12 resist this buckling or curling tendency so long as the sheets are retained between them. In order that the sheets may be slowed down before they are fed into the magazine, the high-speed tapes deliver them to low-speed tapes 14 and 16. One only of each is shown and others are located behind these.

Upon the sheets being received by the low speed tapes from the hlgh-speed tapes, their s eed of advance becomes naturally reduced. efore the low-speed tapes can complete feeding the sheet forward to the magazine, therefore, the high-speed tapes will have advanced another sheet to the low-speed tapes. To prevent the head of the second sheet from colliding with the prior fed sheet, the tail of the latter is moved transversely to the direction of feed, out of the way. In the above-described application, this result is attained by separating the delivery end 11 of the tape 12 from the receiving end 15 of the tape 16, permittlng the tail of the sheet whose head has been gripped b the lowspeed tapes to move into the gap t us formed between the tapes 12 and 16. The head of the next succeeding sheet is then advanced at high speed over the submerged tail of the prior-fed sheet. When the head of the the new sheet becomes gripped by the low-speed tapes, it will become superposed over the prior-fed sheet, in lapping relation thereto, but at a distance behind the value of which is dependent upon the relative speeds of the high-speed and the loWspeed tapes. The tail of this succeeding sheet will be moved out of the way, as be fore, and a third sheet will be advanced to the low-speed tapes, which will become su per-posed over the second sheet. In similar fashion a fourth sheet will become superposed over the third sheet, a fifth over the fourth, and so on. While the high-speed tapes feed the sheets singly, therefore, the low-speed tapes feed a plurality of sheets in successively lapped relation, one behind the other, in which fashion they arrive into the magazine. There, a stop 20 acts successively upon the heads of the sheets to limit their further movement, so that the sheets become stacked or piled in the magazine evenly.

In this manner, the sheets may be advanced to, and stacked evenly in, the magazine, at low speed, without buckling or curling or other defects incident to high speed, though the sheets are in reality advanced singly by the high-speed tapes at quite a high speed. The high-speed advance, for example, may be as high as 850 feet per minute or higher, while the speed of advance of any single sheet in the magazine itself may1 be as low as 75 feet per minute. The big speed, indeed, need be limited only by the speed at which the cutter will operate safely. The significance of this will become apparent when it is reflected that the average speed employed with present-day methods,which speed, of course, is uniform throughout,is in the neighborhood of only 150 feet er minute.

The high-spec tapes 12 are mounted over actuating rolls 22 and 24 that are driven from any suitable source of power at'relatively high speed. The low-speed tapes 16 are mounted over a roll 26 and an idler roll 30. The roll 26 is driven in any suitable manner at relatively low speed. The highspeed tapes 10 are mounted over a driven roll 33 and over an idler roll 35. The lowspeed tapes 14 are similarly mounted over idler rolls 40 and 42.

The apparatus thus far described, like the apparatus ofthe above-identified a plication, is adapted to feed long sheets 0 material successively past a predetermined point at a speed so high as to make it impracticable to feed them at said speed directly into the magazine, and to successively feed the sheets at a relatively low speed past a second predetermined point into the magazine. The first-named predetermined point may, for example, be the point 48 at which the high-speed tapes 10 and 12 commence to feed, the point 50 at which these tapes separate, or any intermediate point. For convenience, this oint may be referred to as a high-speed polnt. The second predetermined point, which may be designated a low-speed point, may, for example, be the point 52 at which the low-speed tapes 14 and 16 commence their feeding, the point 54 at which these tapes separate, or any intermediate point.

According to the method of the aboveidentified application, after the head of the sheet has been gripped by the low-speed tapes, the tapes 12 separate from the tapes 16, to permit the tail of the sheet to move out of the way of the next advancing sheet, into the space or gap formed between the tapes 12 and 16. ccording to the present invention, however, the delivery end 11 of the high-speed tape 12 and the receiving end 15 of the low-speed tape 16 are both fixed in position, and are removed from each other at a substantial distance, as shown. A guide 55 extends towards the tapes 14 and 16 and is adapted to successively guide .the heads of the sheets from the high-speed point 50 to the low-speed point 52. After the head of the sheet has been gripped by the low-speed tapes, the guide is moved out of the way, to the dotted-line position, to permit the tail of the sheet to fall into the gap thus formed between the high-speed and the low-speed, ta es. The guide is pivoted upon a rock sha t 57 to WhlCh is secured an arm 59. A link 61 connects the arm 59 to an eccentric 63 that is keyed to the shaft of the roll 24. In this manner, the guide 55 is operated in timed relation to the highspeed tapes 12, the head of the sheet reaching the point 52 at about the time that the eccentric 63 occupies the central position shown in full lines.

The friction of the head of the sheet upon the guide 55 causes the generation-of static electricity which is objectionable. It is desirable that the surface of the guide that contacts with the sheet move with the sheet to reduce the friction to a minimum. preferred method of bringing about this result is illustrated in Fig. 3.

The guide 55 of Fig. 1 is replaced in Fig. 3 by a guide arm 67 the free end of which is provided with a freely-pivoted roll 69 over which the tapes 12 are mounted. The guide is constituted of those portions of the tapes 12 which extend between the roll 22 and the roll 69. As these portions of the tapes are continuously advancing, the guide, in effect, moves with the head of the sheet to advance the sheet towards the lowspeed tapes. There can thus be but very little, if any, rubbing of the sheet over the guide during the advance. After the head of the sheet has been gripped by the low-speed tapes, the guide arm 67 is moved to the dotted-line position by mechanism similar to that employed for actuating the guide 55 of Fig. 1, and which is designated by the same reference characters. A gap is thus opened up between the high-speed tapes 12 and the low-speed tapes 16 into which the tail of the sheet is adapted to fall, as shown in Fig. 4. The falling movement is aided by the portions of the tapes 12 that are between the rolls 22 and 69, as these engage the rear portions of the sheet and bodily force them into the gap between the highspeed and the low-speed tapes. The movement of the guide arm 67 from the full-line position to the dotted-line position of Fig. 3 would introduce objectionable slack in the tapes 12. To reduce the slack to an inappreciable value, an idler roll 71 is provided. The rolls 22 and 71 being stationary, only those portions of the tapes 12 which extend between these rolls and over the roll 69 take part in the oscillation of the arm 67.

The invention has been illustrated in the drawings in its simplest form for the sake of clearness, it being deemed unnecessary to incorporate herein various additional features, some of which are disclosed in a copending application, Serial No. 469203 filed May 13, 1921.

The invention is as applicable to the feeding and stacking of bundles of sheets as to single sheets. Although, for concreteness,

therefore, the term sheet is employed in the claims, it is to be understood that the term is intended to embrace within its scope not only a single sheet, but a unit which may be constituted of a single sheet or of abundle of sheets. It will be clear, furthermore, that some features of the invention are not limited to an overlapping feed. Modifications may be made by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is:

1. The method of feeding sheet material that comprises feeding a plurality of sheets A of predetermined length at relatively high speed successively past a high-speed polnt, gu1d1ng the heads of the sheets, while they are fed, successively to a low-speed point that is separated from the high-speed point by a distance that is less than the predetermlned length, feeding the sheets at relatively low speed past the low-speed point, and moving the rear portions of the sheets successively away from the high-speed point after the heads of the sheets have arrived at the low-speed point to permit the heads of the next-following sheets lapping the tails of the prior-fed sheets, whereby the sheets are fed past the low-speed point in lapped relation.

2. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means for feeding a plurality of sheets of material of predetermined length at relatively high speed successively past a high-speed point, means for guiding the heads of the sheets to a low-speed point that is separated from the high-speed point by a distance that is less than the predetermined length, means for feeding the sheets at relatively low speed past the low-speed polnt, and means for removing the guiding means to permit the rear portions of the sheets to become removed from the highspeed point after the heads of the sheets have arrived at the low-speed point to permit the heads of the next-following sheets lapping the tails of the prior-fed sheets, whereby the sheets are fed past the lowspeed point in lapped relation.

3. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, a tape for feeding a sheet of material past a predetermined point, a tape for receiving the sheet and feeding it past a second predetermined point, a guide for guiding the head of the sheet from the firstnamed point to the second-named point, and means for removing the guide to permit the tail of the sheet to pass in between the two points.

4. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means for feeding a sheet of material, means for receiving the sheet and feeding it thereafter, means for guiding the head of the sheet from the first-named means to the second-named means, and means for removing the guiding means to permit the tail of the sheet to pass in between the firstnamed means and the second-named means.

5. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means acting at a predetermined point to feed a sheet of material past the point, means for receiving the sheet as it is fed past the point, a guide pivoted near the point extending toward the receiving means for guiding the head of the sheet to the receiving means, and means for moving the guide about its pivot to permit the tail of the sheet to pass in between the arm and the receiving means.

6. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means acting at a predetermined point to feed a sheet of material past the point, means for receiving the sheet as it is fed past the point, means positioned near the receiving means for guiding the head of the sheet to the receiving means, and means for moving the guiding means away from near the receiving means to permit the tail of the sheet to pass in between the guiding means and the receiving means.

7. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means for feeding a sheet of material, means for receiving the sheet, means for guiding the head of the sheet from the feeding means to the receiving means, means for removing the guiding means to permit a rear portion of the sheet to pass in between the feeding means and the receiving means, and means for moving the rear portion of the sheet in between the feeding means and the receiving means.

8. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, two tapes for feeding a sheet of material between them, two tapes adapted to receive the sheet from the two firstnamed tapes and feed it further, the delivery ends of the two first-named tapes being situated near the receiving ends of the two second-named tapes, and means for removing the delivery end of one of the two firstnamed tapes upon the head of the sheet being received by the two second-named tapes to permit the tail of the sheet to pass in between said delivery and receiving ends.

9. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means for successively feeding a plurality of sheets at relatively high speed past a high-speed point, means for successively feeding the sheets at relatively low speed past a low-speed point, means for guiding the heads of the sheets from the high-speed point to the low-speed point, means for removing the guiding means to permit the tails of the sheets to become removed from the high-speed point after the corresponding heads have arrived at the low-speed point to permit the heads of the next succeeding sheets lapping the tails of the next prior sheets, whereby the sheets are fed past the low-speed point in lapped relation, and a stop for successively stopping the movement of the sheets.

10. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means for receiving the sheet as it is fed having means positioned near the receiving means for guiding the head of the sheet to the receiving means, and means for moving the guiding means away from near the receiving means to permit the tail of the sheet to pass in between the guiding means and the receiving means.

11. A sheet-feeding machine having, in combination, means for feeding a plurality of sheets of material at relatively high speed successively past a high-speed point, means for receiving the sheets from the high-speed feeding means and feeding them successively at relatively low speed past a low-speed point, a guide for guiding the heads of the sheets from the high-speed feeding means to the low-speed feeding means, and means for removing the guide to permit the rear portions of the sheets to become removed from the high-speed point after the heads of the sheets have arrived at the low-speed point to permit the heads of the next-following sheets lapping the tails of the priorfed sheets, whereby the sheets are fed past the low-speed point in lapped relation.

12. The method of feeding sheets of material into a magazine and stacking them therein that comprises feeding a plurality of sheets of predetermined length successively past a high-speed point at a speed so high that, if they were fed singly at the said speed into the magazine, they would buckle and fiy about therein, guiding the heads of the sheets, while they are fed, ,successively to a low-speed point that is separated from the high-speed point bya distance that is less than the predetermined length, feeding the sheets at relatively low speed past the low-speed point, and moving the rear portions of the sheets successively away from the high-speed point after the heads of the sheets have arrived at the low-speed point to permit the heads of the next-following sheets lapping the rear portions of the prior-fed sheets, whereby the sheets are fed past the low-speed point in lapped rela tion into the magazine without buckling or flying about.

13. A machine for feeding sheets of material into a magazine and stacking them therein having, in combination, means for feeding a plurality of sheets of predetermined length, successively ast a high-speed point at a speed so high tiat, if they were fed singly at the said speed into the magazine, they would buckle and fly about therein, means for guiding the heads of the sheets, while they are so fed, successively to a lowspeed point that is separated from the highspeed' point by a distance that is less than the predetermined length, means for feeding the sheets at relatively low speed past the low-speed point, and means for removing the guiding means to permit the rear portions of the sheets to become removed from the high-speed point after the heads of the sheets have arrived at the low-speed point to permit the heads of the next-following sheets lapping the rear portions of the priorfed sheets, whereby the sheets are fed past 1 the low-speed point in lapped relation into the magazine without buckling or flying about.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this second day of 15 May, 1921.

CHARLES B. MAXSON. 

